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Bear spray: Pretty much useless with an aggressive bear, particularly if it has been sprayed before. Pepper spray works once, from what I've been told by a lot of backcountry folks while living in Colorado. I don't know if that is true, but I do know that if you are exposed to it enough, you develop a tolerance to it; ask any soldier that had the pleasure of sitting in a gas chamber during training.

Firearms: Unless unless it is a large caliber or point blank and well placed; you're gonna make it mad and it's going after you for sport. Plus, the added weight is an issue for some of us.

I've been very lucky over the years and all of my bear encounters have been peaceful. But, I approach the bear factor when hiking the same as I do the shark factor when diving; it is their domain and I'm the interloper. If you're attacked, (odds are against it by the way) fight!

Adventure carries risk, always has. That has never stopped the brave or the curious from taking the risk.

By the way, spent one winter pulling mama bears and their cubs out of their dens to weigh and measure them with the Wildlife Society. You wanna talk about scary!

I carry a gun every where no matter what It is better to be alive and wrong then right and dead . my grandfather bear hunter all his life and his whole family and all they ever carryed was a 22 mag rifle to shot out the bears. I quess what i am saying is it is eazyer to ask for forgivens then premission when you are alive that is . now when the next bear shows up byall mean don't everybody run behind me hehehehehhe.

Is this Bear Hunting?

I'm not a hunter, but my older brother is and one of my favorite uncles, now deceased, was - so I have nothing against slaughtering innocent creations of God for the pure pleasure of man...just kidding - I don't hunt but I have no aversion to those who do. But what I saw today on what I think is the "Versus" cable station was a little odd to say the least. (This is the same station that brings us the ever entertaining World Extreme Cage Fighting Championship).

The show I saw today was about bear hunting with bow. The "guide" had set up a tree stand for the "hunter". When they arrived at the tree stand a rather large black bear was sitting in it. They threw rocks and sticks at it trying to get it to leave. Eventually it left, but not before urinating all over the stand - of which they had a video and of which they complained about at some length.

Then the scene switches to the "hunter" in the tree stand and a little while later a large black bear comes wandering by the tree which the "hunter" proceeds to shoot with his bow while the bear is at the base of the tree (a distance of about 15 feet). The arrow passes completely threw the bear and the bear runs off into the woods. The "hunter" comes down from the tree stand and lets us know that his shot was perfect because there is a substantial about of blood on the arrow and on the ground where the arrow is stuck. They follow the blood track and eventually come upon the now dead bear. "Wheee...what fun." No wonder the first bear pissed all over their stand.

I think that if you are going to hunt bear you should put some sport into it – do it the Davy Crockette way – a muzzle loader and a knife. You get one shot with the gun – if you don’t kill the bear then your only hope is the knife. It is still not fair because you have a gun – but once you’ve taken your shot the bear now has the advantage, (unless your knife is really a gas powered chain saw.)

I’m just guessing here, but I’ll bet that the “hunter” in the show I saw would have wet his own tree stand under those circumstances.

The other story is directly related to my actual backpack and hammock camp area, but fortunately had a humorous ending. I meant to include this in my trip report, but forgot.

There are no doubt a lot of black bear in the mind boggling forest of Olympic National Park. We may have had zero encounters partly because they were hanging ( in hammocks?) at elevations above where we were sleeping, gorging on abundant blueberries. Which we also did, BTW..One gal told us she saw 13 bears at a lake up where the blue berries were so abundant.

Anyway, we talked to a guy who was setting up camp in the general area as us. The day before we had hiked past a camping area known as "5 mile camp" to get to our area about 4 miles further down the trail. After he came into our area, the 1st thing he said was "Have there been any bear problems here?". We told him "no". He proceeded to tell us how he had not had a bit of sleep the night before at 5 mile camp. He is in his tent with some family members, I can't remember if it was wife, children or both. Apparently about midnight a black bear sow with 2 cubs comes into camp about 10 feet from their tent. One of the cubs decides to climb a tree next to their tent. The mama bear starts trying to talk the baby bear down. She is growling and woofing and whining and jumping up and down stomping her feet. They just keep laying in their tent afraid to move or make noise. This basically went on all night. Finally near sunup, the cub comes down out of the tree and the whole bear family just meanders off into the woods. I later talked to a ranger and the guy had related the same story to him. He repeated several times " I didn't get a da*n minutes sleep last night".

Glad it took place with him instead of outside my hammock! I'm not sure I could have slept through that, even in my hammock!

This would have been funny

So this morning I turn on the Versus station and it's a show about a guide taking a hunter to a tree stand for deer hunting. I nearly chocked with laughter thinking how funny it would be if they found a white tail in their tree stand urinating all over it.